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Some of these are failing schools which have been forced to expand even though they are struggling to maintain standards.

Labour
made it illegal for schools to have more than 30 pupils in infant
classes except in exceptional circumstances, such as a child being
admitted on appeal.

Labour's
shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt said the Government had
created a 'crisis in school places' by focussing on free schools

But the Coalition relaxed the rules. A pupil census
released yesterday showed how 93,345 five to seven-year-olds are being
taught in classes of 31 or more, or 5.9 per cent. In 2008, the figure
was just 24,760.

Of those
classes bigger than 30, most were classed as ‘lawfully large’ because
extra pupils were allowed in for permitted reasons. But the number of
‘unlawfully large’ classes has doubled in a year. Some 17,270 pupils are
being taught in illegally large groups – up from 7,125 last year and
4,280 in 2007.

The Department for Education figures showed that the primary school population grew by 2.5 per cent in a year to 4,416,710.

Despite
the burgeoning population, the total number of state primary schools in
England grew by just four last year – from 16,784 to 16,788.

Official
figures have already shown how more than 50,000 extra places have been
provided in failing and under-performing schools as councils struggle to
cope with demand.

More than
a fifth of extra places generated between 2010 and 2013 are in schools
rated by Ofsted as ‘inadequate’ or ‘requiring improvement’. In some
areas, the proportion is as high as two-thirds.

The
equivalent of 500 extra primary schools are estimated to be needed
within three years to avert a serious shortage of places.

Russell
Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers,
said: ‘The rise in the number of primary age pupils has been known about
for a long time; the Government has simply not done enough to look at
where those school places are going to be needed and to provide the
resources and spaces for them.’

NICK CLEGG WANTS A CORE CURRICULUM

Nick Clegg faces being accused of turning his back on the education reforms he voted for when he claims today that all state schools should have a ‘core curriculum’.

He will say the schools scandal in Birmingham shows that allowing academies to devise their own classes can be too easily ‘abused’.

The Lib Dem manifesto will also insist all teachers have a teaching qualification.

Their position is now closer to that of Labour, which favours a traditional approach to training and the curriculum.

Labour education spokesman Tristram
Hunt said: ‘David Cameron and Michael Gove promised small schools with
smaller class sizes. Yet in Government their decisions have meant
thousands more children are being crammed into overcrowded classes,
threatening school standards.’

A
Department for Education spokesman said: ‘The average infant class size
is up only marginally, from 27.3 to 27.4. However we recognise the
significant pressure on school places.

‘That is why we are giving local authorities £5billion to spend on new school places.’

’The
spokesman added: ‘The figures also include school mergers and closures
of poorly attended primary schools. We have created 35 new primary and
eight all-through free schools since January 2013, creating an extra
21,500 places.’

The
population of state grammars has reached a 35-year high of 162,630, up
from 161,480 last year. The boom came as fee-paying schools saw a small
decline in numbers of around 700.